Board Of Education Honors Make-A-Difference Winners At Oct. 6 Meeting

Press release from Niles Township High Schools District 219:

Three Fine Arts champions at Niles West High School and a Niles North student who has shown tremendous growth during remote learning were honored with the Those Who Make a Difference Award at the Niles Township High School District 219 Board of Education meeting on October 6.

In presenting the winners, Niles West Principal Karen Ritter said, “I would like to recognize Deanna Sortino, who received the Illinois Art Education Association Award for Art Educator of the Year, Patti Anne Ford, who received the IAEA Art Administrator of the Year Award, and Anna Maris, an exceptional student in our Fine Arts Department.

“First, we have Ms. Deanna Sortino, who has been teaching for over 15 years with more than a decade focused on the digital arts at Niles West. During her teaching career, she has won numerous awards and recognitions and is the co-creator of Niles West Mini Portfolio Day, which is a day that college reps from various art schools and programs come see our students’ work. Ms. Sortino is also the co-creator for the Illinois High School Art Exhibition (IHSAE), which is an event where young Illinois artists can showcase their work. I attended last spring for the first time and I was blown away by the art created by local high school students. Ms. Sortino is not only creative, but she is a leader in equity initiatives through art. She has helped lead The Black Creatives Matter Initiative Team for the IAEA by spending several months putting together a comprehensive list of over 500 Black creatives and anti-racist resources to share with teachers across the world. This document is intended for art educators to communicate diverse perspectives and narratives of Black artists to their students and increase access to works, techniques, and concepts by artists of color within their curriculums. Her art students continue to receive top scores on AP art exams (74% of her students earned 5s); and within the past six years, Ms. Sortino’s students have won 10 National Scholastic Art Awards and 440 Regional Scholastic Art Awards. Her students have also received over $8.4 million dollars in college scholarship offers during the past four years. According to student Anna Maris, Ms. Sortino creates a nice environment in her classroom where she feels home and often eats her lunch in Ms. Sortino’s room. She says that Ms. Sortino goes above and beyond with students too.

“Ms. Patti Anne Ford, is being recognized tonight for receiving the Art Administrator Award from the IAEA,” Ritter said. “Not only is Ms. Ford an advocate for the arts, she is an advocate for making sure all students, especially her students of color, feel welcomed and represented in the arts. She pushed her team to create classrooms and best practices that were transformative and multicultural. During her teaching and administrative career, her team has received a variety of significant awards and nominations within the Fine & Applied Arts sector. Known for her relentless, unwavering passion for equitable schools and programming, she has led the charge to make art that is not only well-crafted and entertaining, but to also create works that are powerful and are vehicles for social change. She has fostered a department of educators and artists who make bold choices and whose art can stir emotion and speak for the voiceless. She is a leader who pushes everyone she meets to do their best work, while also being their greatest ally. Along with her trailblazing team, P.A. ensures the continued development of creating classrooms and programs where a child’s race or class does not predict how well they do. Although they have a long way to go, she is a pioneer in creating social change that is now palpable in her department and in Niles West. She expects the art educators within her Fine Arts family to be innovative in their design, taking risks, teaching new material, and creating new projects that speak to the community they serve, protect and support. She has also helped her whole department win the IAEA’s Best Art Program of the Year Award. That is three IAEA awards this year, which has never been done in the history of IAEA!

“Why do they do it?” Ritter continued. “Because of art students like Anna Maris, who we want to recognize tonight as well. Anna has taken art classes since her freshman year. According to Ms. Sortino, Anna Maris is one of the most talented and hard-working graphic designers she has ever had in her program. Not only has her Dia de Los Muertos product design been awarded a National Scholastic Silver Key (which only 1% of students in the nation receive this honor), but she has also won multiple Regional Scholastic Awards and other awards from local art competitions. As part of the Illinois High School Art Exhibition Early College Program Scholarship program, Anna Maris was the first choice of multiple art colleges’ underclassmen to receive their summer scholarship. Anna is the National Art Honor Society President, lead graphic designer of the UNICEF Club, Graphic Arts Club Co-President, and captain of the Swim Team. She has a top GPA and goes above and beyond in every single project she is assigned. She is going to be incredibly successful in college and according to Ms. Sortino, the Niles West Art Department is only what is because of students like Anna. She has left a lasting legacy here and we can’t wait to see what more she creates in the future. Anna would like to study graphic design, interior architecture, and interior design. She has been looking at a few local schools for next year, including Columbia, the Art Institute, U of I, UIC. She is thankful to Niles West and the Board of Education for providing students with so many opportunities. When she attended an art summer camp in Iowa, she realized how fortunate she is at Niles West and how much we expose our students to. She said that some students in that summer program had never used Adobe software before. According to Anna Maris, Niles West gives students the best of the best, and we should not take it for granted.”

Niles North Principal James Edwards presented junior Slvana Al-Ani as Remote Learning Student of the Month. She was nominated by math teachers Sarah Barney and Cecilia Serrano.

“Slvana came to the United States in 2017 from Iraq with her parents and younger sister,” Edwards said. “According to Slvana, ‘When I came to the United States, I didn’t know how to speak English well and I was still learning, but everyone at Niles North helped me. All of my teachers motivated me to do my very best and were always so nice to me. I have always felt comfortable at Niles North because everyone supports me.’”

According to Barney, “As a 9th grader at Niles North, Slvana joined an EL math class and was quiet, shy, and struggled with math at the very beginning. When Slvana entered my EL Geometry class this year, one of my colleagues, Ms. Serrano, alerted me to Slvana’s incredible growth over the past two years. This year in remote learning, Slvana confidently spoke up on day one and made it clear she was there for her classmates. She worked with her peers and taught them how to submit homework — a process that I was just learning myself! If her classmates are missing from class, she reaches out to them to encourage them to come. She shares her materials with them and offers help. Her work ethic, perseverance and compassion are second to none.”

“Slvana embodies the BEST of our community of remote learners and really believes we are stronger when we lift each other up,” Edwards said. “After high school, Slvana wants to be a Physician’s Assistant someday and is considering University of Illinois-Chicago as a post secondary destination. For now, I am glad she is part of our Niles North community and look forward to being in her presence for the rest of this year. We are lucky to have her!”

This press release was produced by Niles Township High Schools District 219. The views expressed here are the author’s own.